Hosta refers to ornamental shade-loving perennials. Nature endowed it with nondescript flowers, giving preference to bright and varied leaves. Landscapers practice the use of plant bushes in garden compositions and flower beds.
Caring for a hosta does not require much effort. The plant is unpretentious. Lives on any type of soil. With proper care, it grows quite quickly. The plant is completely dug up only when it is necessary in principle to transplant the host. It is usually a very overgrown shrub with intense coloration and an excessive number of densely planted leaves.
Transplant hostas in spring or early fall. In the summer, this is allowed only when transplanting the host is an emergency step. For example, to transfer it from the sun to the shade. In this case, good watering is necessary so that the plant can adapt to a new place. The transplanted bush blooms only after a season.
Popular varieties among amateur gardeners:
- Variety "albo marginata". Bright green lavender-shaped leaves with irregular white margins.
- Christmas Night Variety. The leaves are dark green with a dense texture and a narrow white stripe starting from the stalk.
- Variety "Alex Summers". Large vase-shaped plant. Forms a perfect ball over time. The leaves are blue-green, dark. Each is bordered by a golden stripe, the width of which depends on the age of the plant. It got its name from the first president of the American Host Club.
- Sort "August moon". Large thin leaves are yellow-green in color. The flower is tall, white, large enough.
- Variety "blinding with brilliance". Hybrid hosta variety "Alex Summers". It also has a wide leaf border, but not white, but golden.
Hosta is rightfully considered the queen of shady areas. Using a variety of leaf colors and alternating hosta varieties, you can create a unique composition in your backyard. When it comes to design, there are always a lot of questions. For example, what measures are taken when an adult hosta needs to be transplanted? In this case, the plant is transferred to a new place with a clod of root earth.
The hosta is propagated by simple division of the rhizome with a sharp knife:
- All leaves are removed from the mother plant. It is partially dug up.
- Identify and cut off a part of the root with a daughter bud.
- The place of cutting off the child bush is smeared with brilliant green or a weak solution of potassium permanganate.
- Maternal rhizome fall asleep back, andthe daughter is placed in a pot of garden soil and put in the refrigerator until early March.
- After this period, the pot is removed from the refrigerator, and the hosta is grown at home as a houseplant.
- When the hosta gets stronger, it is planted in open ground.
And yet there are exceptions. Hybrids can only be transplanted in autumn. In these hosta varieties, the formation of new roots begins after all the leaves have blossomed. The ideal period when you can transplant a hybrid host without risk is mid-August - early September. The intensive growth of the roots of hybrid varieties in the autumn will allow the plant to adapt long before the onset of the cold season.
